Center sponsoring range of new courses in Winter

The new classes organized by the Y&S Nazarian Center will cover everything from the political economy of Israel to the history of Israel's relations with European countries.

UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, December 4, 2017 - The Y&S Nazarian Center is sponsoring three new courses for the Winter Quarter as well as a required course for students interested in pursuing the Israel Studies minor once again. The courses are being taught by three of the Center’s visiting faculty and scholars and will give students the opportunity to explore in-depth diverse aspects of Israel.

These courses (along with others being taught in the Winter Quarter) can count towards the Israel Studies minor - though students who are not pursuing the minor can still enroll. Many of the classes also count as upper division electives for a number of departments across campus, allowing students to pursue their academic interests in Israel while also obtaining course credits necessary for their major or minor.

Jewish/Middle East Studies M144
Zionism: Ideology and Practice in the Making of the Jewish State
Instructor: Nadav Molchadsky

This course examines the history of Zionism on the backdrop of European, world, and Jewish histories from ideological origins of Zionism to its political, cultural, and social foundations of State of Israel.

This course will also count as an upper division elective in the History Department. For more information or to enroll, visit the Registrar’s website.

International and Area Studies 160
Europe and Israel: History of a Vexed Relationship
Instructor: Daniel Stein Kokin

This course examines the vexed Europe-Israel relationship from the Jewish state’s founding to the present and will explore factors that have governed European nations' attitudes and relations with Israel; what role history (particularly the backdrop of European anti-Semitism and especially the Holocaust) and self-interest have played; and what contrasts can be discerned between western and eastern Europe with regard to Israel. Consideration, in particular, will be given to Israel's bilateral relations with France, Germany, and Poland as key test cases.

This course will also count as an upper division elective in the History and Political Science Departments. For more information or to enroll, visit the Registrar’s website.

The history of Zionism and Israel, it can be argued, is history of successive founding of different new kinds of communities: the city (especially Tel Aviv), collective farm (kibbutz and moshav), development town (in periphery of country), and settlement (especially on West Bank). Indeed, in perhaps no other country do diverse--and at times, competing--forms of community exert such prominent influence on national psyche as in Israel. This course will examine these various kinds of new communities and explore the political, social, and ideological contexts in which they emerged, and the contribution they have made both to Israel's own identity and to its image in international arena.

This course will also count as an upper division elective in the History and Sociology Departments. For more information or to enroll, visit the Registrar’s website.

Political Science 169
Special Topics in Comparative Politics - From Statism and Neoliberalism: The Political Economy of Israel in Comparative Perspective
Instructor: Michael Shalev

Political economy analyzes linkages between economic and political spheres, focusing especially on the role of government in economic affairs. Today, varieties of the pro-market neoliberal model prevail nearly everywhere. This is a striking departure for countries like Israel, with a traditionally statist political economy. Overview of role of government and politics in Israel's economy in comparison to other countries. The course will focus on how and why Israel made transition to neoliberalism and address puzzles like the coexistence in Israel of neoliberalism and state activism in immigration, defense, and settlement.

This course will also count as an upper division elective in the Sociology Department. For more information or to enroll, visit the Registrar’s website.